Description
Domaine de l’Enclos, Chablis
Much like the wine we offered yesterday, this village-level Chablis found its way to us a few years ago and has become a touchstone in the time since. Suffice it to say that the SommSelect crew has front-row seats on the Domaine de l’Enclos bandwagon, with this new-release 2020 in our glasses. Since that first sip of Enclos Chablis felt like discovering fire, all the subsequent sips must live up to that—but Romain and Damien Bouchard are proving up to the task.
They grew up in Chablis working alongside their father, Pascal, and the heart of their operation is a significant stand of prime Chablis vineyards that has been in their family for generations. They may have only launched their label in 2016, but this is no rookie operation—it’s a pair of seasoned vintners working with mature, organically farmed vines, for which they achieved official certification in 2018. If these two were top draft picks in the NBA or NFL, you’d expect them to make an immediate impact as pros. They did, and with each new release, they grow their legend further—without going crazy with prices!
Pascal Bouchard sold his extremely successful business in 2015, but he held onto his family vineyard holdings to pass along to Romain and Damien. The brothers had previously been making their own wines in a small corner of the Pascal Bouchard winery, but, once equipped with 30+ hectares of well-placed vineyards, with an average age of 30 years, the time was ripe to set up their own shop. In addition to spending their first years refining their viticultural practices and pushing for organic certification, they constructed a new cellar underneath their family home in the town of Chablis proper. It’s a modern cellar, but one which employs many traditional practices, including moving all juice/wine by gravity only.
Fruit for this hierarchy-busting village Chablis was sourced from estate vineyards in the villages of Chablis, La Chapelle Vaupelteigne, Beines, Fontenay and Villy. The sites encompass a variety of exposures but are rooted mostly in the chalky Kimmeridgian limestone Chablis is so famous for, with some flatter parcels containing more clay and Portlandian limestone. The wine was fermented using only ambient yeasts in stainless steel, followed by nine months of aging on the fine lees (spent yeasts) in tank.
Following the fleshy, early drinking ’19, this ’20 toes a more classic Chablis line—kind of a welcome development, as we’ve been tasting quite a lot of rich, tropical “How is this Chablis?” wines lately. In the glass, it’s a pale yellow-gold with flashes of silver and green, with aromas of green and yellow apple, lemon zest, white flowers, crushed oyster shells, and wet stones. It is medium-bodied and has a hint of creaminess, but there’s a spine of minerality and citrusy freshness lending loads of snap. This is an example of Chablis at its tense, fragrant, mineral-etched best, and I think a 1-2 years in bottle will fill it out nicely. If you choose to crack a few bottles now, decant them about 30 minutes before serving in all-purpose stems at 45-50 degrees. Freshly shucked oysters would be a great choice for this one, as would a whole grilled fish drizzled with lots of lemon. “Classic” is the operative word. Enjoy it!
